Apparatus for making lap-welded tubes



Mal-ch27, 1928.

J. H. MATHEsON APPARATUS FOR MAKING LAP WELDED TUBES Filed 'July 28.1926 2 '3heets-Shet 1 a 1 A l/llll fll llllll Patented Mar. 27, 1928..

UNITE Di sTArEs 1,664,379 PATENT' OFFICE.

JAMES E. ma'rnnsou, or wYomIssme, rnnnsnvanmyassrenonro noNALnE.

V m'rnnson, or nnenwoon, PENNSYLVANIA.

Arrerwrus FOR MAKING nar-wnnnnn'runns.

Application filed July 28,

One object of my invention'ispto improve the construction of apparatusfor making lap welded tubes, so that a. tube can be completelyformeddirectly' from the flat blank 5 in acontin'uous operation. f

, A further object of the invention is to so construct the apparatusthatits capacity is greatly increased, and if there is a breakdown atanyone point, it will not interfere- 1Q with the continuousoperation'ofqthe appa- 'ratu"s In the accompanying drawings;

' f Fig. 1' is a'plan vlewof my'improved.

1-1 are the tables, on which are located the flat blanks or skelps afrom which the tubes are to be formed. 2' 2 are pushers of the ordinarytype for moving the blanks 30 into and out of the furnace 3.. The blanksa areheated'inthis furnace before bending.

' These blanks a are arrangedside by side and are brought into alignmentwith the scarfing rolls 4, which latter rolls scarf the -35 edges of theblanks a as they-are passed between them. The blanks, after passingthrough the scarfing rolls 4, are discharged onto a roller table 5. Therollers on this table .are driven in the ordinary manner and 4 guiderails 6 form tapered ways to directthe scarfed blank t0 the bending dies7 In some instances, the scarfing rolls may 1 be omitted or may beopened to allow the blanks to p'ass'through the rolls without be- 1ngscarfed by. them, as in some instances.

the blanks or skelps are scarfed during the rolling process and come'tothe tube; mill in a scarfed condition.

In the present instance, there are two hot 50' scarfing rolls locatedside by side and two bending dies. It will be understood that thismachine is a double machine, that is, two blanks are bent into tubes inone operation, the blanks. traveling through the' ap 5s paratus side byside,.an d the mechanism on Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view on the1926.- seria itb. 125,474.

one side of the apparatus is a duplicate of that on the opposite side.

After the blanks *are bent into tubular form, they are discharged onto achain-table 8, located in line with the bending dies. Rails 9 arelocated between each chain-table and a longitudinal-roller trough 10, sothat. the bent. blanks are movedlaterally over the rails from thechain-tables to the troughs 10. Each trough 10 is pivotally mounted 7 sothat" it can befturhed end for end when it is 'desiredto reverse thetubular blank.- Eachtrough 10 is in line with a-longitudinal rollertrough 12.

Inclined rails 13 (Fig. 4) are arranged between the roller trough 12 andthe troughs .14 .in front of the openings' 15 in the welding furnace'16. Pushers\17, mounted on verhead rails 18,. push thetubular blankinto,the welding furnace 16, and when the tubes have reached the weldingheat, they are rolled into position to be pushed out of the furnace 16and between the welding rolls 19. The welded 'tubes then pass ontotroughs 20 and roll downthe inclined rails 21 (Fig.-' 5) to side troughs22. The troughs 22 arein line with the, sizing rollers 23, so that whenthe tubes are pushed from the troughs'22 they pass between the sizingrolls and into troughs 24, and from these troughs the tubes are passedbetween the cross-rolls 25 and onto the receiving tables 26, from whichthey are transferred to the cooling chain-tables 27 at the discharge endof the apparatus. From these tables the tubes ma be passed throughstraightening rolls 28. he rod pullers are shown at 33. These pullersare used to pull the ball-rods 34 from the formed tubes.

"If it is necessary to double weld the tubes, then the tubes aretransferred from the troughs 20 onto-a central trough 29, which ispivotally mounted on a piston 30' within a cylinder 31, so that thetrough 29 can be raised clear of the othertroughs and can .be

turned .by a rack-and-pinion, shown in 3 diagram in Fig. 5. I i

I After the welded tube has been located in the trough 29 and the troughturned so as to reverse-the tube,'the latter is again pushed into the.welding furnace 16, and. when at welding heat is again passed betweenone of. 'the' sets of welding rolls. This double Wilding insures a;perfect welding of the tu es,

. without interferring with the continuous production.

I claim 1. The combination inapparatus for making lap welded tubes, of askelp heating furnace; scarfing rolls located in front of the furnaceand arranged to scarf the blanks as they pass from the furnace; axtablefor receiving the scarfed blanks; a bending die through which the blankstravel; a support for receiving the bent blanks; means for allowing theblanks to move laterally into a pivoted trough; a longitudinal trough inline with the pivoted trough; means for carrying the blanks from saidtrough to a fixed trough in front of the welding furnace; a pusher forintroducing the tubular blank into the furnace and for projecting atubular blank therefrom; and welding rolls in front of the weldingfurnace between which the blank is passed and welded.

2. The combination in apparatus for making lap welded tubes, of a skelpheating fur-. nace; a scarfing roll located in front of the furnace andarranged to scarf the fiat blanks as they pass from the furnace; a tablefor receiving the sca'rfed blanks; a bending die through which theblanks travel; a support for receiving the bent blanks; means forallowing the blanks to move laterally into a pivoted trough; a trough inline with the pivoted trough; means for carrying the blanks from saidtrough to afixed trough in front of the welding furnace; a pusher forintroducin the tubular blanks into the furnace and or projecting thetubular blanks therefrom; welding rolls in front of the welding furnacethrough which the blanks are passed and welded;"means for allowing theblanks to move laterally after they have passed through the weldingrolls; slzing rolls through which the blanks pass; and cross-rolls forstraightening the blanks.

' 3. The combination in continuous apparatus for forming lap weldedtubes, of a skelp heating furnace; means for feeding the blanks from thefurnace through the welding rolls.

4:. The combination in apparatus for forming lap welded tubes, of afurnace for heating skelps; means for bending the scarfed skelps; meansfor turning .the skelpsend for end; a welding furnace into which thescarfed and bent blanks are inserted; welding rolls in front of thefurnace through which the blanks are passed after being brought towelding heat; troughs for receiving the welded blanks; a centraltrougharranged to be turned end for end to allow the welded tube to beinserted into the welding furnace from the front end for the purpose ofre-welding; sizing rolls; and crossrolls through which the welded tubespass.

- JAMES H. MATHESON.

a-skelp to the furnace; scarfing rolls at the

